Sunday, May 26, 2013

Time For Matt Kemp To Take A Break?

Coming in to the 2013 Dodgers season, as most Dodgers fans were busy ordering playoff tickets and getting fitted for Championship t-shirts, I was saying to myself that I didn't want to "win this way" and more importantly I didn't want to "lose this way". Well, here we are only at the end of May but the Dodgers are definitely "losing this way". Yeah, there are lots of problems, too many for me to cover but the one that really sticks out is Matt Kemp being a shell of his former self at the plate.

2013 Matt Kemp
- wOBA 0.285
- OPS 0.656

Those are awful numbers. Those are the numbers are number four hitter has been putting up for the first two months of the season. And apparently Matt Kemp is not in a slump. He is not unlucky. He is just not good at hitting for the time being.

What's wrong with Matt Kemp? Who knows. I will leave that for the medical staff, hitting coaches and sports psychologists out there. But what I do know, is that you cannot have your number three hitter putting up an OPS of 0.656 over a two month period with NO sign that a turn around is on the horizon.

Here are some options, and there are likely a few more. In draconian order.

1. Put Matt Kemp on the DL and send him to the minors to rehab.

Pros: Matt Kemp is "hurting" this team and the team with its payroll is in a win now mode. Matt Kemp is weighting down this ship. Call up Joc Pederson who is tearing up AA and let Skip Schumaker back him up.

Cons: Nobody seems to know for sure what is causing Matt Kemp not to hit and nobody seems to know what course of action will help him rebound. Matt's ego.

2. Bench Matt Kemp

Pros: He can rest a little bit and still see the occasional major league pitcher while working on his swing in the cages with hitting coach Mark McGwire. He won't be making as many outs. Joc Pederson or someone from the minors gets a chance.

Cons: Nobody seems to know for sure what is causing Matt Kemp not to hit and nobody seems to know what course of action will help him rebound. Matt's ego.

3. Drop Matt Kemp in the batting order.

Pros: Matt Kemp still gets to see major league pitching but perhaps does less damage to the Dodgers offense batting 7th or 8th in the order.

Cons: Nobody seems to know for sure what is causing Matt Kemp not to hit and nobody seems to know what course of action will help him rebound. Matt's ego.

The biggest problem to me is the fact that nobody seems to know for sure what is Matt Kemp's problem at the plate. Is it physical or is it mental or somewhere in between. And if so, what is the right path to take. This team was built to win NOW. The payroll is enormous. The pressure to win is enormous. This team already has enough dead weight. We have two very good outfielders in the minor leagues. There would obviously be some risk in calling them up to play a tough defensive position and Carl Crawford can probably no longer play CF due to his weak throwing arm. I would start at #3 on my list and every 7-10 days move up a notch. Moving him down in the lineup will not help him get better but if you are going to play him every day just because he supposedly needs to play to get better/feel better (w/e that means) then for the love of God drop in the batting order. If no improvement is made (which there likely won't be) then bench him and let him rest and work out the kinks out of the batting order where he cannot hurt this team. If that doesn't work then send his butt down to the minors to work it out. I wish him the best, but this team needs to win now and it isn't likely to happen with Matt Kemp playing every day and batting fourth in the lineup.